Written by Talya Misiri

16/05/17

Ease, transparency and empowerment are three core values for its member communications, Nest has said.

Speaking at the Pension and Lifetime Savings Association's Local Authority conference, Nest director of marketing Ranila Ravi-Burslem explained that in order to ensure its members understand their pensions, the scheme looks to simplify retirement savings as much as possible.

It was highlighted that clear communication is of the utmost importance as over half, 52 per cent, of Nest members claim only basic knowledge of pensions and that the majority of members are passive rather than active participants.

"To make pensions understandable and accessible...Communicating better and communicating well is about using the right language and giving information at the right time," Ravi-Burslem explained.

Adding to Nest's key values, it was noted that within the scheme all communications are "digital first, scalable and low cost".

Also speaking in the session on improving member communications, Capita head of marketing and engagement Kerry Tate-Maskill stated that "segmentation is key for effective communications".

Tate-Maskill discussed the importance of targeted member communications that are specifically matched to members with different types of attitudes, backgrounds and ages.

Furthermore, both Nest and Capita agreed on the centrality of digital as a channel in pensions communication. It was claimed that Nest members in the "high 90s [per cent] have digital communications" and digital is also a default method at Capita.

"Very little numbers of people opt-out [of digital communications], people have to actually choose not to want it," Ravi-Burslem said.